This '''Manual of Style''' is a standard that should be across all of [[Tolkien Gateway]].

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{{Seealso|Help:Contents}}

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The '''Manual of Style''' is a style guide for all articles on [[Tolkien Gateway]].

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:''See also: [[Help:Contents]]''

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==Article titles, headings, and sections==

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==General rules==

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*With the exception of names, all article titles, headings, and sections should use [[Wikipedia:Letter case#Usage|sentence case]] and not [[Wikipedia:Letter case#Usage|title case]].

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===Canon===

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*If the title is a published name, it should be italicised by placing <nowiki>{{title|italics}}</nowiki> before the list of categories at the end of the page.

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{{main|Canon}}

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===Terminology===

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==Canon==

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{{Main|Canon}}

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Canonical is considered only the material written by Tolkien. Everything else, including artistic adaptations (films, games), media and [[fanon]], are not. Information that is invented for such media should not be included in the body of the article, but in the section "Portrayal in adaptations".

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Wholly non-canonical topics that appear only in the media, can have their own articles, such as [[Irolas]] or [[Lurtz]], if they are notable enough, with the necessary <nowiki>{{adaptation}}</nowiki> tag.

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Again, these should not be linked to from canonical articles; eg. the body of the Boromir article should not mention that "Boromir was shot by [[Lurtz]]". Such information should be under the "Portrayal in adaptations" section, making it clear that this happens only in ''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring]]'' film, and not in canonical material.

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==Terminology==

* ''The Lord of the Rings'' is not a trilogy, and is arguably (and according to Tolkien himself) not a novel either. Use the words "legendarium" (for the story as a whole), "book", "books" (both for LotR, its volumes and the 6 books &mdash; but make clear which you are referring to), "volume", "volumes" (for the three volumes of ''The Lord of the Rings'').

* ''The Lord of the Rings'' is not a trilogy, and is arguably (and according to Tolkien himself) not a novel either. Use the words "legendarium" (for the story as a whole), "book", "books" (both for LotR, its volumes and the 6 books &mdash; but make clear which you are referring to), "volume", "volumes" (for the three volumes of ''The Lord of the Rings'').

* Abbreviations of names of books, movies, series, people, etc. should not be used in articles or lists (e.g. write out ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', not LotR).

* Abbreviations of names of books, movies, series, people, etc. should not be used in articles or lists (e.g. write out ''[[The Lord of the Rings]]'', not LotR).

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*Take note of correct singular and plural forms of terms: e.g. an [[Uruk-hai|Uruk]] ''or'' one of the [[Uruk-hai]], ''not'' an Uruk-hai; "Uruk-hai" means "Orc-folk")

*Take note of correct singular and plural forms of terms: e.g. an [[Uruk-hai|Uruk]] ''or'' one of the [[Uruk-hai]], ''not'' an Uruk-hai; "Uruk-hai" means "Orc-folk")

*Italicize non-English terms for objects and creatures (e.g. ''[[palantír]]'', ''[[crebain]]''), but not for peoples (e.g. [[Eldar]]). In general, follow the books.

*Italicize non-English terms for objects and creatures (e.g. ''[[palantír]]'', ''[[crebain]]''), but not for peoples (e.g. [[Eldar]]). In general, follow the books.

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*When referring to adaptations, label them clearly as to avoid confusion with works of the same name (e.g. "''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers]]''" rather than just "''[[The Two Towers]]''".

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*When referring to adaptations, label them clearly as to avoid confusion with works of the same name (e.g. "''[[The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers]]''" to refer to [[Peter Jackson]]'s movie rather than just "''[[The Two Towers]]''").

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* Avoid adaptation-derived terms to describe the ''original versions'' of characters, concepts, etc. Only use those terms to refer to ''their counterparts in adaptations'', and point out that the terms are original to the adaptation (e.g. "Army of the Dead" should only be used in an adaptation context; use "[[Oathbreakers]]" or "[[Dead Men of Dunharrow]]" elsewhere).

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* Avoid adaptation-derived terms to describe the ''original versions'' of characters, concepts, etc. Only use those terms to refer to ''their counterparts in adaptations'', and point out that the terms are original to the adaptation (e.g. use "[[Oathbreakers]]" or "[[Dead Men of Dunharrow]]" properly; "Army of the Dead" should only be used in an adaptation context).

* Use capital letters when writing about the races of Middle-earth, but lower-case when writing about individuals or groups of individuals i.e. Elves, Dwarves, Men, Hobbits, Orcs, Istari, Valar, etc. (e.g. "the hobbits walked down the road", "Hobbits have hairy feet", "the hobbit jumped over the fence", "the Elf lord bowed before them", "the orcs were running over the plain").

* Use capital letters when writing about the races of Middle-earth, but lower-case when writing about individuals or groups of individuals i.e. Elves, Dwarves, Men, Hobbits, Orcs, Istari, Valar, etc. (e.g. "the hobbits walked down the road", "Hobbits have hairy feet", "the hobbit jumped over the fence", "the Elf lord bowed before them", "the orcs were running over the plain").

* Do not use "human" or "humans" when describing a concept inside the [[legendarium]]; instead write "[[Men]]" or "men", "Man"/"man", or "Mannish" (for usage of capital vs. lower-case letters, see above).

* Do not use "human" or "humans" when describing a concept inside the [[legendarium]]; instead write "[[Men]]" or "men", "Man"/"man", or "Mannish" (for usage of capital vs. lower-case letters, see above).

*For articles with only a few dates (or only a few differing from the stated standard reckoning for the article) it is easiest to just spell out the reckoning period in full; '[[Fourth Age 6]]'.

*For articles with only a few dates (or only a few differing from the stated standard reckoning for the article) it is easiest to just spell out the reckoning period in full; '[[Fourth Age 6]]'.

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===Categories===

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==Categories==

* Before creating a category, please check to see if there is a same existing category or subcategory.

* Before creating a category, please check to see if there is a same existing category or subcategory.

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* Generally, do not categorize things twice (e.g. Since [[:Category:Dúnedain]] is the parent category of [[:Category:Dúnedain of the North]], only the latter should be used in the [[Aragorn|Aragorn II]] article). However, if two or more categories from different sub-branches apply, then it would be proper to use both.

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* Generally, do not use supercategories (e.g. Since [[:Category:Dúnedain]] is the parent category of [[:Category:Dúnedain of the North]], only the latter should be used in the [[Aragorn|Aragorn II]] article). However, if two or more categories from different sub-branches apply, then it would be proper to use both.

* Use italics for "isolated words and phrases in other languages". In terms of Tolkien-related articles, this would include anything in the [[Languages]] as well as [[Old English]] (e.g. [[Quenya]], [[Sindarin]], [[Rohirric]], [[Khuzdul]], etc.)

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* Use italics for "isolated words and phrases in other languages". In terms of Tolkien-related articles, this would include anything in the [[Languages]](e.g. [[Quenya]], [[Sindarin]], [[Rohirric]], [[Khuzdul]], etc.) as well as [[Old English]] (e.g. "a rope made of ''hithlain''").

* All articles that cover in-universe material must be in ''past tense''.

* All articles that cover in-universe material must be in ''past tense''.

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===Wikilinking===

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==Links==

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* Create links ONLY if they are '''relevant to the context.'''

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<!-- * Create links ONLY if they are '''relevant to the context.'''

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* Generally, there should not be duplicates of the same links. However, if you have made a link in captions or the infobox, it is a good idea to make the same link in the article.

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I question the necessity or validity of this rule, and doesn't seem to be followed anyway. See the Talk page -->

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* The following ''should'' be linked: dates, places, people that have a major connection with the subject, technical terms, etc.

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* The following ''should'' be linked: dates, places, people that have a major connection with the subject, technical terms, etc.

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* Generally, there should not be duplicates of the same links. However, if you have made a link in captions or the infobox, it is a good idea to make the same link in the body of the article.

*Make sure you link to the intended article rather than the disambiguation page; there are more than one "[[Minas Tirith]]", "[[Aragorn]]" and "[[Faramir]]". See also: [[Tolkien Gateway: Disambiguation]]

*Make sure you link to the intended article rather than the disambiguation page; there are more than one "[[Minas Tirith]]", "[[Aragorn]]" and "[[Faramir]]". See also: [[Tolkien Gateway: Disambiguation]]

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===Redlinks===

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* A redlink is a link to an article which doesn't exist.

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* The numbers of redlinks should be reduced by

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*#creating the appropriate article. Make sure you can complete a decent article before starting it; do not create an one-line stub just for the sole reason of eliminating the redlink.

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*#checking the spelling. Sometimes the previous editor did not spell a name exactly as the linked article's name.

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*#If the redlink seems to link to a redundant word that isn't referring to something significant to Tolkien's mythology (such as "[[cloud]]" or "[[Maggot's wagon]]" or "[[Aragorn's unnamed daughter]]") the brackets creating the link should be removed.

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* If links remain to an article that has been deleted, these are also redlinks and should be removed. [[Template:Redlink]] can be used for this purpose.

*Avoid the definite article ("the") and the indefinite article ("a"/"an") unless addressing the titles of books, series, movies, etc. Note for example that "[[Fellowship of the Ring]]" is the article for the group of characters, whereas "''[[The Fellowship of the Ring|'''The''' Fellowship of the Ring]]''" is the article describing the first tome of ''The Lord of the Rings''.

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*Avoid introducing names poetically in your text, e.g. use just "in [[Minas Anor]]" instead of "in a city known as [[Minas Anor]]"; use just "[[Oromë]]" instead of "the [[Vala]] whom the [[Elves]] called [[Oromë]]".

===Introduction===

===Introduction===

* The first occurrence of the [name of the] subject of the article at first mention must be '''bolded''', preferably in the first sentence in the article.

* The first occurrence of the [name of the] subject of the article at first mention must be '''bolded''', preferably in the first sentence in the article.

* The lead section should be about one to three paragraphs long, dependent on the overall size of the article. Often, a single sentence suffices.

* The lead section should be about one to three paragraphs long, dependent on the overall size of the article. Often, a single sentence suffices.

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*Ideally, the lead section should be a synopsis of the topic's history, role and significance.

===Body===

===Body===

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* The "History" section is to represent a chronological, in-universe history of the subject.

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* The "History" section is to represent a chronological, in-universe history of the subject.

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*''In-universe'' means that the topic should be treated as actual history/mythology, and not as a subject of literature and fiction. Prefer expressions like "In the First Age" instead of "In ''The Silmarillion''" or "During the War of the Ring" instead of "During the events of the ''Lord of the Rings''". You should avoid phrases like "later in the chapter...", "in the second book...", "in one earlier version of the text...", and even the name "Tolkien", in the narration.

* The "Etymology" section is written either in or out of universe (or both if needs be), and should be well sourced. Avoid the generic term "[[Elvish]]".

* The "Etymology" section is written either in or out of universe (or both if needs be), and should be well sourced. Avoid the generic term "[[Elvish]]".

* In the "Inspiration" section, elements which have or may have influenced Tolkien in the forming of the character or event can be placed.

* In the "Inspiration" section, elements which have or may have influenced Tolkien in the forming of the character or event can be placed.

* For the "Genealogy" section, use the [[:Template:Familytree|familytree]]-template.

* For the "Genealogy" section, use the [[:Template:Familytree|familytree]]-template.

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* "Other Versions of the Legendarium" is a section for information about the changes made during writing, or for matters of questionable canonicity.

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* "Other versions of the legendarium" is a section for information about differences that appear in Tolkien's drafts, changes made during writing, elements that didn't pass into the published texts, and generally for matters of questionable canonicity.

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* "Portrayal in Adaptations" is a section for out-of-universe information about the subject. See [[Tolkien Gateway:Projects/Adaptations]] for a list.

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* "Portrayal in adaptations" is a section for out-of-universe information about the subject. See [[Tolkien Gateway:Projects/Adaptations]] for a list.

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* "See Also" is a section where the reader can be pointed at related articles, or a gallery of images of the subject.

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*Some articles may contain a section for "In popular usage" to highlight how a word or inspiration by Tolkien passed into the later fantasy literature. For example the article on [[Hobbits]] mentions the "Halflings" of Role-Playing Games, inspired from Tolkien's Hobbits.

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* "See also" is a section where the reader can be pointed at related articles to similar or relevant topics, or a gallery of images of the subject.

===References===

===References===

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*If the image is of an illustration, attempt to find the artist's title of the image and upload it as "Artist Name - Title of Illustration.jpg"

*If the image is of an illustration, attempt to find the artist's title of the image and upload it as "Artist Name - Title of Illustration.jpg"

*Categorize the image properly. These include "Category:Images by (artist's name)", and categories for all characters, objects and events.

*Categorize the image properly. These include "Category:Images by (artist's name)", and categories for all characters, objects and events.

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*If you're an artist yourself and you like your work featured on this website, it's advisable to upload images of minor characters only. We have sufficient pictures of [[Aragorn|Aragorn II]], but NONE of [[Aragorn I]].

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*If you're an artist yourself and you like your work featured on this website, it's advisable to upload images of minor characters only. We have sufficient pictures of [[Aragorn|Aragorn II]], but none for [[Aragorn I]].

Canon

Canonical is considered only the material written by Tolkien. Everything else, including artistic adaptations (films, games), media and fanon, are not. Information that is invented for such media should not be included in the body of the article, but in the section "Portrayal in adaptations".

Wholly non-canonical topics that appear only in the media, can have their own articles, such as Irolas or Lurtz, if they are notable enough, with the necessary {{adaptation}} tag.

Again, these should not be linked to from canonical articles; eg. the body of the Boromir article should not mention that "Boromir was shot by Lurtz". Such information should be under the "Portrayal in adaptations" section, making it clear that this happens only in The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring film, and not in canonical material.

Terminology

The Lord of the Rings is not a trilogy, and is arguably (and according to Tolkien himself) not a novel either. Use the words "legendarium" (for the story as a whole), "book", "books" (both for LotR, its volumes and the 6 books — but make clear which you are referring to), "volume", "volumes" (for the three volumes of The Lord of the Rings).

Abbreviations of names of books, movies, series, people, etc. should not be used in articles or lists (e.g. write out The Lord of the Rings, not LotR).

Take note of correct spellings, including diacritical marks, e.g. Éomer, not Eomer. Accents are not optional and if you are unsure of the alt code to insert the character just click the proper character below the editing box. An easy way to verify the correct accents is to type the non-accented version of the word into the search box and you will be redirected to the correct term, which you can then copy and paste.

Take note of correct singular and plural forms of terms: e.g. an Urukor one of the Uruk-hai, not an Uruk-hai; "Uruk-hai" means "Orc-folk")

Italicize non-English terms for objects and creatures (e.g. palantír, crebain), but not for peoples (e.g. Eldar). In general, follow the books.

Avoid adaptation-derived terms to describe the original versions of characters, concepts, etc. Only use those terms to refer to their counterparts in adaptations, and point out that the terms are original to the adaptation (e.g. use "Oathbreakers" or "Dead Men of Dunharrow" properly; "Army of the Dead" should only be used in an adaptation context).

Use capital letters when writing about the races of Middle-earth, but lower-case when writing about individuals or groups of individuals i.e. Elves, Dwarves, Men, Hobbits, Orcs, Istari, Valar, etc. (e.g. "the hobbits walked down the road", "Hobbits have hairy feet", "the hobbit jumped over the fence", "the Elf lord bowed before them", "the orcs were running over the plain").

Do not use "human" or "humans" when describing a concept inside the legendarium; instead write "Men" or "men", "Man"/"man", or "Mannish" (for usage of capital vs. lower-case letters, see above).

Dates and Years

For dates, always used Date Month and not Month Date, i.e. "4 March" and not "March 4".

For articles with only a few dates (or only a few differing from the stated standard reckoning for the article) it is easiest to just spell out the reckoning period in full; 'Fourth Age 6'.

Categories

Before creating a category, please check to see if there is a same existing category or subcategory.

Generally, do not use supercategories (e.g. Since Category:Dúnedain is the parent category of Category:Dúnedain of the North, only the latter should be used in the Aragorn II article). However, if two or more categories from different sub-branches apply, then it would be proper to use both.

Italics

Always use italics for titles of books, series, movies, games, etc. (e.g. The Silmarillion, The Lord of the Rings, etc.)

Use italics for "isolated words and phrases in other languages". In terms of Tolkien-related articles, this would include anything in the Languages(e.g. Quenya, Sindarin, Rohirric, Khuzdul, etc.) as well as Old English (e.g. "a rope made of hithlain").

Redlinks

creating the appropriate article. Make sure you can complete a decent article before starting it; do not create an one-line stub just for the sole reason of eliminating the redlink.

checking the spelling. Sometimes the previous editor did not spell a name exactly as the linked article's name.

If the redlink seems to link to a redundant word that isn't referring to something significant to Tolkien's mythology (such as "cloud" or "Maggot's wagon" or "Aragorn's unnamed daughter") the brackets creating the link should be removed.

If links remain to an article that has been deleted, these are also redlinks and should be removed. Template:Redlink can be used for this purpose.

Article layout

Naming

Avoid overusing parentheses in titles of articles, unless there is disambiguation.

Avoid the definite article ("the") and the indefinite article ("a"/"an") unless addressing the titles of books, series, movies, etc. Note for example that "Fellowship of the Ring" is the article for the group of characters, whereas "The Fellowship of the Ring" is the article describing the first tome of The Lord of the Rings.

Introduction

The first occurrence of the [name of the] subject of the article at first mention must be bolded, preferably in the first sentence in the article.

The lead section should be about one to three paragraphs long, dependent on the overall size of the article. Often, a single sentence suffices.

Ideally, the lead section should be a synopsis of the topic's history, role and significance.

Body

The "History" section is to represent a chronological, in-universe history of the subject.

In-universe means that the topic should be treated as actual history/mythology, and not as a subject of literature and fiction. Prefer expressions like "In the First Age" instead of "In The Silmarillion" or "During the War of the Ring" instead of "During the events of the Lord of the Rings". You should avoid phrases like "later in the chapter...", "in the second book...", "in one earlier version of the text...", and even the name "Tolkien", in the narration.

The "Etymology" section is written either in or out of universe (or both if needs be), and should be well sourced. Avoid the generic term "Elvish".

In the "Inspiration" section, elements which have or may have influenced Tolkien in the forming of the character or event can be placed.

"Other versions of the legendarium" is a section for information about differences that appear in Tolkien's drafts, changes made during writing, elements that didn't pass into the published texts, and generally for matters of questionable canonicity.

Some articles may contain a section for "In popular usage" to highlight how a word or inspiration by Tolkien passed into the later fantasy literature. For example the article on Hobbits mentions the "Halflings" of Role-Playing Games, inspired from Tolkien's Hobbits.

"See also" is a section where the reader can be pointed at related articles to similar or relevant topics, or a gallery of images of the subject.

External links

Remember that the External links serves as further reading, not advertisement. Tolkien Gateway is not a link farm nor a web directory. Do not link to ten or more sites. There are exceptions to this case, but a vast quantity of external links are usually frowned upon. Three to four links are usually enough.

The following sites should be linked: Official sites (that majorly relate to the topic), articles about the subject of article on other encyclopedias or vast resources (e.g. Encyclopedia of Arda, The Thain's Book, Wikipedia, and sites that contain neutral and accurate information that has not been mentioned in the article. On controversial articles that contain multiple points of view, have at least equal amount of sites presenting each POV with a detailed explanation.

The following sites that are occasionally acceptable: professional reviews reviewing books, movies, etc. (e.g. IMDb), ONE very informative fansite about the subject of article, web directory full of informative fansites.

The following should be avoided and are generally not acceptable: fanlistings (because they are not generally informative), multiple fansites, web directories (for exceptions, see above).

The following should not be linked on articles under any circumstance: sites with unverified original research, any form of advertising (whether it's a site or a product), any social networking sites, etc.

Images

Uploaded images must be related to J.R.R. Tolkien and his works, the one exception being if you want to upload an image for your userpage, usually of yourself, that is acceptable.

We are currently fairly lenient on the file size of images. If the image is above our maximum file size limit (you will see this after clicking the upload button) simply click save anyway. Keep in mind there is no need for extensive quality as our images are used primarily in articles. However we would prefer too high of quality opposed to too low of quality as we can always reduce the quality later.

Always tag the image you're uploading with image copyright tags. If you are not sure of the copyright, then it is best not to upload it.

Always include a description of the image: where the image came from, what it is, etc.

If available, place book illustrations first in the article, especially in infoboxes. Screenshots and other images from adaptations properly belong in an Adaptations section.

Do not change the images in the Infoboxes without discussing it on the talk page.

If the image is of an illustration, attempt to find the artist's title of the image and upload it as "Artist Name - Title of Illustration.jpg"

Categorize the image properly. These include "Category:Images by (artist's name)", and categories for all characters, objects and events.

If you're an artist yourself and you like your work featured on this website, it's advisable to upload images of minor characters only. We have sufficient pictures of Aragorn II, but none for Aragorn I.